This week I was watching ski videos like I always do and came across a picture of one of my favorite riders making a guest appearance in a band’s music video (the band is called bears with guns). I had never heard of the band before, and honestly wasn’t all that interested in checking them out, but the photo peaked my curiosity well enough to get me actually watch the video. When I found the video, it turned out to 25 minutes long (its actually a documentary of a trip they took through New Zealand, here is a shorter version of it). But the amazing thing is that their use of a star actually got me to watch and listen for basically the full duration of the video (the skier comes in at around 19 minutes).
This got me thinking about the brilliance of this. Jossi Wells is a professional skier, but he was featured in a music video for an up and coming band. Could this same model work for other bands – getting professionals from different disciplines to endorse their music could be an incredible way to market yourself. I mean, if it got me to listen to a new band (and actually, bears with guns is quite good) when I was simply searching for new ski videos, then could a professional wakeboarder being featured in a music video (not even necessarily wakeboarding in the video) get a wakeboard fan to take an interest in the band? I personally think that it is possible and a great way to get more exposure to the music. Not to mention that athletes respect the musicians they listen to, and would undoubtedly brag, like Jossi Wells did, about getting to be in a music video, which would make the exposure even greater.
Star power in Music videos is a post from Internet Entrepreneurship - Class Blog of ENTR 409 at Grove City College